Fossil Insect on Matrix Group

Rounded section of a geode with polished edges lined with light purple amethyst crystals; light yellow calcite to the centre with a smaller calcite to the side, both with drusy quartz; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 12.8 kg total, 37 cm including stand



From Artigas, Uruguay. Property of a London lady.

Comprising one hundred translucent to opaque slices, some dyed. 725 grams total, 37-82 mm



From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.

A pair of earrings with hooks and a suspended nickel-iron meteorite (IAB). 9.05 grams total, 35-38 mm



Ex Lincolnshire, UK, collection.

A crater field of roughly 26 craters was found in the vicinity of this crater, which is estimated to date to 4-5 thousand years BP. The age of the meteorite itself is thought to be c.4.5 billion years, formed as part of the development of this solar system. The largest two fragments, the 30.8 ton Gancedo and 28.8 ton El Chaco, are among the heaviest meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth. In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a large mass of iron, which it was believed the local people claimed had fallen from the sky and which they used for their weapon production. The expedition discovered a large mass of metal which was assumed to be an iron mine and brought back a few samples, which were described as being of unusual purity. Following the legends, in 1774 Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna rediscovered the iron mass. He himself did not believe that the stone had fallen from the sky and assumed that it had formed by a volcanic eruption. However, he sent the samples to the Royal Society of London. In 1990 it became protected by law.